Rhubarb and Rose Water Sorbet with Rice Noodles from The New Persian Kitchen by Louisa Shafia

Photograph by: Sara Remington
, Ten Speed Press

Tahdig is a Persian specialty. This golden, crunchy, pan-fried layer forms at the bottom of the pot when cooking rice. As with many delicious things, to make it well takes patience and practice. A well-made tahdig holds its disc-like shape when removed from the pot, and is perfectly caramelized. It is served either whole or broken into pieces so everyone can have a taste of the good stuff with their rice.

Author Louisa Shafia describes it as Persian “soul food” – the heart of the meal – in her second cookbook The New Persian Kitchen (Ten Speed Press, 2013). Shafia explains in great detail over six pages how to make tahdig, as well as how to cheat with a “faux” tahdig recipe. “In Iran, making rice is like making pasta in Italy. It’s a fine art and there’s a specific way that you do it. The texture of the rice should be fluffy and dry with all the grains separated,” she says in a phone interview from her home in Brooklyn.

As a chef, Shafia has cooked at restaurants such as the vegan Millennium Restaurant in San Francisco, and has dedicated her career to cooking healthy, flavourful and accessible food, which she often documents on her blog Lucid Food. The approach she takes in The New Persian Kitchen is vegetable-focused (but not vegetarian) and health-conscious. Shafia estimates that half the recipes in the book are original, such as Grilled Shrimp with Lime Powder and Parsley-Olive Oil Sauce (recipe below); the other half classics such as Pomegranate Walnut Stew (Fesenjan).

The classic starch at a Persian meal – in addition to flatbread – is white rice. Many of the dishes in the book that would traditionally be made with white rice call for whole grains such as millet or brown rice, or the pseudocereal quinoa. Shafia points out that this is also true for tahdig, which can be made with any whole grain you prefer, and dishes such as Jeweled Rice (Morassa Polo, recipe below), which is made from a combination of brown basmati rice and quinoa. “I really try to make a point of showing people that you don’t always have to use white rice but you can still make the same dish,” she says.

Another healthy consideration is baking instead of frying in dishes such as the Persian classic Eggplant and Tomato Stew with Pomegranate Molasses (Bademjan). Traditionally, the eggplant would be fried first and then added to the rest of the ingredients. “You know when the stew is done because you see oil floating on the top,” Shafia says. “That’s not really the way that I would normally cook, even though it tastes delicious, so for my recipe I bake the eggplant on a baking sheet in the oven with a tiny bit of oil and that’s it, and it has the same wonderful, tender texture and full flavour.”

Shafia also made an effort to reduce the amount of oil, and to use healthier types of oil than would traditionally be used. Rather than using corn oil as a base cooking oil, she recommends grapeseed oil because it’s good for high-heat cooking. She also favours extra virgin olive oil, primarily for garnishing due to its lower smoke point, butter, and coconut oil, which is non-traditional but great for high-heat cooking. “I think that the flavour [of coconut oil] is really complementary to a lot of the more tropical dishes that use, say tamarind or lime juice,” Shafia says.

With a Muslim father who was born in Tehran, Iran, and a Jewish mother from Philadelphia, it was important for Shafia to include aspects of both religious traditions. “I really wanted to include the culinary contributions to the Iranian food landscape if you will, because there are a lot of really colourful details about the ways that the Jews have contributed and Muslims have contributed, and Zoroastrians have contributed,” she says. “Zoroastrianism was the original religion of Iran, dating back to the Persian Empire. So they’ve all really coloured the cuisine and I wanted to try to fit those in as well.”

The most colourful example of the Jewish culinary contribution, Shafia says, is Persian “matzoh balls” (gondi), which she includes in the book. “In the Persian language gondi is a salty expression for a male anatomy part – you can probably guess what it is,” she says with a laugh. “But these matzoh balls are so delicious. They’re made with chickpea flour and ground chicken or turkey, and they have really the same texture as matzoh balls but I feel like they’re easier to make; and they’re nice and light and fluffy. And gondi are actually seasoned with turmeric and cardamom, which is such a surprising use of those spices but it works.”

Unable to enter Iran due to documentation issues, Shafia researched the book in Los Angeles – home to the largest number of Iranian immigrants in the United States – and in Turkey, which neighbours Iran. In Los Angeles she cooked with relatives, shopped at Persian grocery stores, ate at Persian restaurants, and experienced traditional Persian family meals.

As Shafia learned, it’s expected that you arrive an hour late for family meals. Platters of nuts, dried fruit, baby cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and dry cookies for tea are placed on the coffee table for guests to nibble on as they chat. “After everyone has arrived, lunch is served and it’s laid out on a long table that’s covered with a beautiful cloth and everything comes out at once,” Shafia says. “You have your yogurt and your stew, and your rice and your kebabs. There are no courses; it all comes out at once because it’s all meant to be eaten together.”

Guests serve themselves and the atmosphere is casual; people sit on the floor, at the table, or on chairs away from the table. When everyone has finished eating, the host will serve chai – hot, black tea – in small glasses on a tray. “The chai flushes some of that rich food out of your system, and revives you for a second helping maybe a couple of hours later. And in the meantime, you chat with people, you chase around whatever children are there, you can even go take a nap. That’s perfectly acceptable,” Shafia says.

“You spend about six or eight hours just hanging out and nothing really happens. It’s just about spending quality time together,” she adds. “And at the end of the day, if there are still leftovers, you get sent home with some containers of whatever you had.” To aid readers who may be unfamiliar with Persian cuisine in preparing feasts of their own, Shafia offers suggested menus at the end of the book. The menus include dishes for celebrating holidays such as Eid al-Fitr, Thanksgiving or Mehregan, Passover, and Christmas, Hannukah or Shab-e Yalda, and seasonal menus such as Summer Barbecue and Classic Kebab Meal.

This rustic Turkish-style parsley sauce unlocks not only the flavor of seafood but of grains, vegetables, and chicken, too. The shrimp get a dose of intense citrus flavor from bittersweet dried lime powder. If you have dried limes, you can grind them in an electric spice grinder to make your own lime powder. You can also substitute the zest and juice of 2 to 3 fresh limes, if necessary. Use a good-quality extra-virgin olive oil in the sauce, and serve with rice or another grain.

Coarsely chop the parsley and place it in a large bowl with the garlic, lemon juice, and extra-virgin olive oil, and stir to combine. Season to taste by adding 1/2 teaspoon salt at a time, until the flavors pop. Add pepper to taste.

Prepare a hot grill.

In a large bowl, whisk together the lime powder, grapeseed oil, 1 teaspoon salt, and a few grinds of pepper. Add the shrimp and toss to coat evenly. Grill the shrimp for 5 to 6 minutes on each side, until they’re opaque in the middle.

Spoon the shrimp over the rice and season to taste with salt and pepper. Top with the parsley sauce and serve immediately.

Vegetarian Option

In place of the shrimp, use tempeh cut crosswise into bars 3/4 inch wide. Increase the amount of grapeseed oil to 3 tablespoons, and season the tempeh to taste with salt and pepper before grilling.

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Jeweled Brown Basmati Rice and Quinoa

Morassa Polo

This dish gets its name from the gemlike red barberries and green pistachios that sparkle on its surface. It’s a regal dish that’s typically reserved for special occasions. My husband and I served jeweled rice at our wedding, and it was so well received that the wedding venue added it to their menu. Although there are quite a few ingredients, this is an easy dish to make. You simply sauté the dried fruit and nuts with oil and spices, and toss them with the cooked grains. If you’re substituting different grains for the ones used here, check to see if they need more or less cooking water than the recipe calls for, and adjust accordingly.

Heat a medium stockpot over low heat and add the rice and quinoa, 2 tablespoons of the oil, and a pinch of salt. Sauté the grains, stirring often to prevent sticking for about 5 minutes until dry and fragrant. Add the boiling water and return to a boil; turn down the heat to very low and cook, covered, for 40 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the grains rest for 10 minutes, then toss in the butter and fluff with a fork.

While the grains cook, heat a large skillet over medium heat and sauté the onion in the remaining 3 tablespoons oil for about 15 minutes, until lightly browned. Add the barberries, apricots, rose petals, cumin, cinnamon, and cardamom. Cook for about 5 minutes, until heated through. Reserve half of the pistachios and almonds for garnish, and add the rest of the nuts to the skillet. Season with salt, and remove from the heat.

In a large bowl, toss the fruit and nuts with the grains and drizzle in the saffron. Season with salt. Garnish with the remaining nuts, a few rose petals, and the pomegranate seeds.

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Date-and-Walnut-Filled Cookies

Koloocheh

These butter cookies are unmistakably Middle Eastern: Persian Jews make them at Purim, while Arabic Christians eat a similar cookie at Easter, as do Muslims during various Eid celebrations. The key to getting the cookies to keep their shape is to refrigerate them until firm after filling and shaping. The combination of gluten-free flours here produces a nutty taste and a light texture, but you can use an equivalent amount of white flour.

Makes about 18 cookies

Dough

1 cup unsalted butter or refined coconut oil, at room temperature

1/3 cup plus 1/2 cup organic cane sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg

3/4 cup fava bean flour

3/4 cup coconut flour

1/2 cup tapioca flour

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

2 teaspoons baking powder

Filling

1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts

1/2 cup Medjool dates, pitted and chopped

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

2 tablespoons honey

Pinch of sea salt

To make the dough, in an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar on medium-high speed for about 3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and egg and mix until just combined. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, salt, cardamom, and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in two batches, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Turn the dough onto a piece of plastic wrap and press it into a disk. Wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours, until firm but still flexible.

To make the filling, combine 1/4 cup of the walnuts with the dates, cinnamon, orange juice, honey, and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer uncovered, stirring often, for 5 to 7 minutes, until the mixture forms a thick paste. Transfer to a plate and let cool to room temperature.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

To make each cookie, wet your hands and break off a lemon-size piece of the dough.

Flatten the dough, or make a well in it using your thumb. Place 1/2 teaspoon of the filling in the middle, then pinch the dough closed and roll it into a ball. Flatten the dough gently between your palms to form a disk 1 inch thick, and place it on the lined baking sheet. Press a pinch of the remaining 1/4 cup walnuts into the center of the cookie. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling.

Refrigerate the cookies for 45 minutes, until firm. While the cookies chill, preheat the oven to 350°F.

Bake the cookies for 25 minutes, until the undersides are golden. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely. In a clean spice grinder, grind the remaining 1/2 cup sugar into a fine powder. Dust the cookies with the powdered sugar and serve. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

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